by C. Dulaney
Dad and I met each other’s gaze and held it a long moment. I could almost see him wrestling with himself, to do what was being asked of him, or keep an eye on me. Finally I took the shotgun from Michael’s hands and shoved it against my dad’s chest.
“Take them down to the first set of cells. Wait there. If trouble comes, shut yourselves up in one of them and wait for us. We’re going to clear the lab.” I let go of the gun, of my feelings for him, and stepped away. “Go ahead, Jake.”
Dad curled his hands around the barrel and stock. “Alright, fellas. Let’s go.” He lingered a moment, letting his gaze fall across Michael and Rabbit, then turned and led the other men back down to the far end of the room. Thankfully, Gus went with them. At least I knew he’d be safe.
“Pop it, Jake,” Michael repeated my order. The rest of us stood back and raised our weapons.
* * *
Although we had prepared ourselves for anything, nothing came bursting out of the doorway. Jake pocketed his knife and raised his own weapon, stepping aside to let Rabbit lead us through. We entered single file and quickly noticed a distinct lack of sound. The area on this side of the door was cleaner and whiter than the rest of the complex had been. As before, the only noise was the squelching of our boots against the tile floor. One side of the hallway was nothing except a wall, but the other side was floor-to-ceiling windows, allowing for full view of the area beyond. We had only walked maybe thirty feet, enough so that we were in the hallway and standing in front of the windows, when movement caught our attention.
Rabbit balled up one fist, signaling a halt, but it wasn’t necessary. Everyone had frozen in place and was watching two people, a man and a woman in white coats, working at a station positioned in the center of the room on the other side of the window. Lining all four walls of the room were metal tables, being used as beds. On each table lay a body, strapped down, with IVs sticking out of both arms. I think Rabbit must have realized the two people inside weren’t armed because he suddenly started for the door leading inside the lab.
No one moved to follow him.
“Come on,” he growled.
“What are they doing to them?” Mia asked.
I think I can speak for everyone involved when I say we felt as though we were watching this from outside the situation. We were observers, sitting in a theater perhaps, our eyes transfixed on the twisted scenes that rolled before us. It was just a movie. It wasn’t real. It couldn’t be real. A government would never have scientists perform experiments on its civilians. A government was supposed to protect its people. Scientists were supposed to search for ways to better our lives, not to end them. This didn’t happen in our country. Not the United States.
Of course, every one of us knew what governments and related agencies were capable of. Every one of us knew what sort of atrocities Man could and would commit against fellow Man, sometimes for no reason at all. We weren’t stupid. We weren’t that naïve or innocent. But I think, seeing those people strapped to those tables, helpless and being experimented on against their will after being held prisoner—held in a shithole, forced to sleep in their own filth, after being promised they’d be safe—I think it was the icing on the cake. Deadheads, zombies, folks coming back and eating us. Tearing and ripping us apart. We thought we had seen the worst. At that moment I think we were all traumatized just a little bit more. As if we weren’t jaded and cynical enough.
“Hey, let’s go,” Rabbit growled again.
The scientists inside had noticed us. Slowly, our wits returned to us and our mission became clear. This was the Command Center for the entire state of West Virginia, which had been divided up into four districts. Each district had been sending survivors to this exact location. We were staring at what apparently had been done to all the survivors that had been found and sent to them. We only had one choice: stop it. It didn’t matter that we didn’t know what “it” was. Whatever they’d been doing to people, it had to be stopped.
“Alright. Let’s get our heads out of our asses,” I finally spoke up, making my voice loud and clear. I shouldered my shotgun and stepped up to the other side of the door, opposite Rabbit. He had the key card in his hand. “You think that will work?”
“One way to find out.” He swiped the card.
The two scientists were scrambling behind the workstation, trying to hide from us. The noise of the door unlocking prompted everyone else to snap into motion. Weapons were raised, minds were set, even though a few of them still bore looks of disbelief. Months of training took over the second Rabbit and I entered the room. Michael and Jake moved past us and spread out, followed by Mia and Jonah.
“Get down! Get down!” Michael shouted at the scientists, who looked like they were trying to find something in a drawer one of them had pulled open.
“Hands where we can see them! Now!” the corporal ordered. Were they going for weapons?
“Please don’t! Don’t shoot!” the woman nearly screamed. It was plain to me that both of them were scared and neither looked like the type to whip out a gun and start mowing people down.
“Get down now!” Michael repeated and moved closer. In the excitement, his limp had disappeared.
Rabbit moved up along the other side of the workstation, and he and Michael came at the scientists from both sides. The rest of us split up and followed, flanking and cutting off any chance of escape.
“Please, stay calm, please,” the male scientist spoke up. He wasn’t shouting; his voice was very sedate.
“On your knees! Hands behind your head!” Rabbit barked.
We had inched into position and were waiting for the scientists to comply. If they didn’t, I wasn’t sure what would happen. I figured they’d be shot. To be honest, I didn’t really give a damn.
“Alright, soldier. Just stay calm,” the man said again. He caught the eye of the woman, nodded slowly, then eased himself down onto his knees and laced his fingers behind his head. “Do as they say, Evelyn.”
The woman, Evelyn, whimpered, but did as she was told. Tears were already spilling down her kindergarten-paste cheeks. Just who did she think we were? Bandits? Thugs? Another branch of the government sent for them?
“Who are you?” Rabbit barked again. Neither of them answered. He stepped forward and shoved his barrel against the male scientist’s temple. “Name, now!”
The man’s head was pushed back slightly, either from cringing or from the force Rabbit was putting behind his pistol. I could see the folds of his white coat trembling.
“My name is David McAlister. I’m lead scientist for Center 35.”
Rabbit and Michael stared at one another a moment. We had seen this man’s name on a door earlier, but we had only known this place as the Command Center, not Center 35. I tried not to look around, to keep my focus only on the man and woman on their knees before us. I tried to keep my mind on the task at hand, forcing thoughts of my family as far back into the depths as possible. I could see, just in my periphery, the feet of someone lying on the table next to me, and another door, this one marked “Private”.
Don’t look.
“Where are the others? There were soldiers here, where are they?” Rabbit continued his questions, killing the silence and bringing my attention back on what it needed to be on.
The scientist glanced at Evelyn quickly, but a jab of the corporal’s pistol brought his eyes back around. “They… gave themselves willingly in the service of their country.” His voice had started to waver just a bit.
“Explain.” Rabbit’s voice was wavering too.
I could literally hear Jake, who stood on the other side of the workstation behind Michael, breathing. That was usually a bad sign.
“We hadn’t received any shipments…” Something about McAlister’s answer rippled through us.
“Jesus,” Jonah moaned from behind me.
“Tell me what happened to the soldiers stationed here!” Rabbit shouted and pressed harder against the scientist’s head.
He
didn’t answer quickly enough.
“We used them! We hadn’t had a shipment in days! If we didn’t use what we had, it would have all been for nothing!” Evelyn screeched.
“Evelyn!” McAlister growled.
Rabbit pulled back and brought the grip of his sidearm down across the scientist’s face, knocking the man forward onto the floor. Michael stepped up, adjusting his coverage, while Rabbit holstered his gun and knelt, sticking a knee into his back. He grabbed a handful of hair and wrenched back, locking his other hand like a vice around McAlister’s chin. The scientist gasped for breath; his neck being bent at an awkward angle made it difficult to breathe. His eyes looked frantic for the first time since we’d entered the room. They moved across each of us, pleading for help. None came.
“The Guardsmen who were here, you did what? Experimented on them? Used them for whatever the hell it is you’ve been doing? What you’re doing to these poor people right now?” Rabbit snarled against the man’s ear.
“They…” gasp, “saved…us.” Another gasp and a cough.
“What do you mean?” Michael asked. McAlister tried to answer, but Rabbit had his head pulled too far back; all he could do was wheeze and cough. “Corporal, ease up.” After the soldier complied, Michael repeated his question.
“What we did, was to save you. To save—” he coughed again. “To save everyone. Those men and women, soldiers and colleagues of ours, we had to use them because you,” he twisted his head in Rabbit’s grasp to stare him down, “stopped sending our shipments!”
The soldier jerked the scientist’s head and tightened his grip on the man’s chin.
“You’ve been trying to find a cure?” Jonah spoke up.
“Impossible…” Evelyn answered this time.
“Shut your mouth,” McAlister hissed at her.
“No, you shut yours.” Rabbit slammed the man’s forehead against the tile floor, knocking him unconscious, then he slowly got to his feet, pulled his pistol, and aimed it at Evelyn. “Your turn.”
“Easy now,” I said, uttering the warning before I even knew I was thinking it. Michael caught my eye and nodded once, letting me know he was still in control of the situation, and of the corporal.
Mia cleared her throat, moving between Jake and up next to Michael like a ghost. She held her free hand up to the men, stopping their protests before they could begin, then she kneeled down in front of the woman.
“Go on, you can tell us.” Mia always had a way with people.
Evelyn’s lip quivered and her eyebrows knit together. “We tried to find a cure. We tried for so long. But it’s impossible. I’d explain but—” She cast a fearful glance at Rabbit.
“Go on,” Mia urged.
“It’s complicated. We did try. For months we tried. Then the order came to try…to try something else.”
Jake had been silent the entire time, his breathing growing louder and harsher. I flicked my eyes to the left, just to make sure he wasn’t about to stroke out or anything. He looked angry, but no more so than was usual. He wasn’t focused on Evelyn, as we all were. He was staring at the floor directly next to her and chewing on the inside of his cheek. That was his thinking face.
“What are you doing to these people, Evelyn?” Mia coaxed.
So far, no one had turned to look at the people lying on the tables.
Or the “Private” office door that now stood open.
“They’re making them better,” said a man, now standing behind me with a gun pressed just behind my ear.
“I’ll be goddamned,” Jake croaked.
* * *
No one spoke for a very long time. So long in fact, that David McAlister finally began to wake up. He grumbled a few times and moved his arms. Rabbit, without taking his eyes off of the man behind me, dropped a knee into the scientist’s back again and forced his forehead to the floor.
“I didn’t say you could talk yet.”
McAlister sighed heavily but didn’t argue.
My captor’s tone, that familiar scent, pulled my eyes in his direction. He was staring ahead at the others, his eyes lingering on Michael longer than the rest. Mia placed one hand on Evelyn’s shoulder to still her as the woman broke down in sobs.
“You…” I whispered.
My first thought upon seeing Warden Harvel again after so long should have been, “Holy shit!” But it wasn’t. I really thought he was just another ghost.
“Those things you’ve been running into? They made them,” Harvel said. “That’s what they’re doing.” He jerked his chin in the direction of the tables, his voice dead steady. My eyes flicked to him, then back to Jake, looking for some kind of help.
He simply nodded.
“Put your weapon down,” Rabbit said. Everyone’s barrels had lowered the instant Harvel stuck his to my head, but Rabbit’s was beginning to rise again.
Don’t you get me killed. Just take it easy.
“They couldn’t cure them…so they took a little from them,” Harvel continued, ignoring Rabbit. “DNA from the immune, DNA from the infected.”
Immune? There are people immune to the zombie virus? Who?
“Those men, your dad.” Harvel jabbed me with his gun and began dragging me to the front of the room, putting the scientists between us and my friends. “They’re immune. And these fuckers have been tinkering around with DNA tech on the survivors.” Our silence prompted him to continue. “Okay, let me put it to you this way.” He holstered his gun and grabbed a large knife from his side. “You take something from one thing, combine it with something from another, to make something else.” He pressed the knife to my throat, drawing blood and making me gasp. “Haven’t you people ever heard of genetically engineered corn? Those—things are genetically engineered.” He turned to get confirmation from Evelyn, who was nodding her head.
“They’re humans, living people, but they behave as the reanimates do.” Evelyn took a deep breath, suddenly very collected, and made eye contact with each of us. “No memory, no conscience, only instinct and a drive to return home. We programmed them to go home, knowing they came from all over the state. Once Dr. McAlister,” she glanced at her co-worker, “and his counterparts perfected the serum, we knew our subjects wouldn’t harm living beings, only the dead. We knew they would systematically work their way back home, eliminating the reanimated threat along the way. Eventually, this virus will be wiped out…because of them.” She swept one arm to the side, gesturing to the tables on that side of the room, and her voice had taken on a triumphant tone.
I haven’t turned yet, and I should have. I must be immune, like Dad. Why do I feel disappointed? Oh yeah, that’s right. Warden Fucking Harvel is going to kill me anyways.
For the first time I let my gaze wander over the tables lining the room. It seemed pretty apparent that the people were heavily sedated, otherwise they looked healthy. Well, as healthy as could be expected, seeing as how they had been kept in that cage. I noticed, with each of the survivors, their IV bags were almost empty.
“So whatever it is they pumped into these people to make them into killers, it’s in those bags?” My voice was weak and low. I already knew the answer, but I was stalling for time.
“Sure is, darlin’.”
The knife dragged slightly, drawing more blood.
“They’re already…changing.”
Harvel’s voice dropped to a whisper. “It’s going to take a while for the process to be complete, though. How do you think we should spend that time, hm?” He chuckled. His other arm was wrapped around my middle, pinning my arms to my body. I felt like I did that day Harvel’s bitch had me trapped in the infirmary.
Trapped. No way out.
“Jesus,” Jonah groaned.
More blood spilled down my front. Michael, Rabbit, and Jake raised their weapons at once. The room erupted in shouts. Harvel dragged me until his back was against the wall, and he was still chuckling.
“You don’t have to do this,” I pleaded.
“Yes, I
do. And I’m going to enjoy it.”
“They’ll kill you if you do.”
“You really think I care?” He laughed and squeezed me so tight I could barely breathe. “Trust me, sweetheart. Nothing in this world would make me happier right now than taking your sorry ass with me.”
His arm shifted, the knife bit into flesh, and then I heard the crack of a bullet and felt something tug at my hair. I gasped again, sliding with Harvel as he sank to the floor to keep the knife from digging in and finishing the job. Once down, I didn’t move. I laid here on top of Harvel until his knife-hand relaxed and fell away. I didn’t feel his chest rising and falling, didn’t hear him breathing. People started rushing to help me. Rabbit was yanking things from his bag, wiping and pressing against my neck. They were all talking to me, but the only person I focused on was Jake. He stood above the others, his gun still in hand.
“You told me the next time I pointed a gun at your face, I better pull the trigger.” Then he smiled.
* * *
I came to sometime later, flat on my back on the floor, looking up at a circle of faces.
“This shit is getting real old,” I croaked.
“There she is. Welcome back,” Mia said, stroking my cheek.
“Yeah, yeah. Fuckers stop staring and get me up.”
“You better re—” Rabbit started to say.
“Rest, hell. Get me up.”
Mia and Jake pulled me to my feet. Rabbit explained my injury and that I’d be fine, it had been a shallow cut. I reached up and felt a very thick layer of gauze wrapped around my neck. Otherwise, I ignored their fussing and the pain. Something had caught my attention.
My legs moved on their own, taking me past the others and toward the back of the room. My heart stopped. Breathing ceased.
